This is a small snow leopard painting that I recently finished – watercolor on ivorine. The head of the cat is just about 2 inches height/width. Being one of the smaller miniatures, it didn’t spend a lot of extra time on my easel, just a few days – one thing that I do like about painting the smaller ones. 
I’ve been wanting to paint another big cat, a snow leopard inparticular, for some time – I think it’s been about a year since I painted one. I love big cats and the intense expressions that they have. It’s such a challenge to capture their look in a painting. Snow leopards are so beautiful with all of the soft grays in their fur that contrast with the crisp black spotting – very fun to paint. 
Being that these beautiful cats are an endangered species, it makes painting them a little more special. The Snow Leopard Trust has done a lot to help these cats through donations and volunteers - http://www.snowleopard.org/
(Click on the images to see a larger image of the cat painting in a new window) This painting is currently available.
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September 17th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
absolutely wonderful Rebecca.
September 18th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I like the snowleopard, that painting is very good.
Perhaps you can paint a ‘Lodjur’ (in Swedish), I don’t no what the english word is for that animal.
But here is a link to a picture of it:
http://www.bioresurs.uu.se/myller/fjall/fjall_bild/lodjur.jpg
Thank’s for all the great paintings you produce.
Sincerely,
Philip
Sweden
September 18th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Your painting of the Snow Leopard is absolutely fantastic Rebecca ! I painted one of those back in the eighties, but not a close-up like yours. Continued success Rebecca, and may God Bless.
September 21st, 2008 at 7:56 pm
You did this so well, it looks like you can put your hand up to it and feel the fur. Amazing!
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:45 am
@Doris – Thank you! I haven’t worked on the ivorine as much lately…that was fun to get back into as well.
@Phillip – Perhaps that is an Eurasian Lynx? This is the listing in Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Lynx Actually, I did have the chance to see some of these cats up close to study and take photos for reference. They were a pair that had been rescued from fur traders and had been taken to a sanctuary to live (the ones that I saw were slightly more gray in color than your photo). I saw so many cats that day…I will have to go take a peek in my albums to see what I have to work with…
They are very beautiful cats.
@Patrick – I always get into painting the subject like you are right there with them. I’ve done some landscapes and distance paintings, but the up close pieces are just such a draw for me. (I hope you are still painting…
)
@Bob – Thank you! I really love painting fur and making the illusion of softness combine with the crisp fur texture.
Thanks for visiting – Cheers
October 29th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
these paintings are wonderful. I love animals particularly big cats and owls and especially wolves. I just love your work You do a wonderful job of capturing the animal.
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Thanks so much, Amanda!
I’m delighted that you like my work. I love those animals too…that’s why I paint them. 